The Endowment

Evangelist Arthur Oakman
Endowment Lecture 1-Our Spiritual Universe [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)First in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "Brethren, there is anouter, external world which is designed to minister the life of God to us. And there is also an invisible, interior, inner world, and it is this invisible interior world, the world that is within us, with which we haveto do, so terribly important. And, all of the apparatus known to us as the universe, the whole flux of thingscreated, the presence of our fellow men, our heritage, history, all things, are designed that we may take them inside us. And that there may be created in us, in each one of us a universe of discourse, which shall be truly in harmony with the Spirit, and the mind, and the will of our Heavenly Father." A transcript is available HERE.

Endowment Lecture 2-A Spiritual View Of History [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)Second in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "The universe is created by God and in its midst are creatures that he has created out of his love because he is love. God doesn't love us because we are lovable, he loves us because he is love; it's his nature to do this. And gentlemen, nothing you and I can ever do can make God stop loving us, and caring for us, and spending himself for us, and becoming involved with us. In everything man does the Eternal is committed. There have been some who have thought that God is unconcerned about humanity, that he is not involved in human history. Then what do we do? We point to Calvary. We say yes we know that human history is cruel; we know that it devours its children. We know that the story of mankind is fraught with terrible things, but to say that God is aloof is not true. For he himself in the person of his Son has entered into the course of time, and has taken in his own body the sins of men, and put them on a tree, and made those sins shine with the love of God." A transcript is available HERE.

Endowment Lecture 3-The Holy Spirit And The Church [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)Third in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "In a discussion of the Holy Spirit why is it that we began with the story of creation? The answer to that question is the fact that the creation itself reflects the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Creation itself is an actualization of the Holy Spirit. And the universe is a framework so to speak, in which the Holy Spirit or God through the Spirit, is eminent. You remember the other night we talked about the scaffolding that was put round a building? This is an analogy by which we can view the universe as the scaffolding through which our Heavenly Father ministers his life to us. And the important thing for us to remember is that there is the universe that is around us and the universe that is within us. We stand between the two, and take the universe that is around us and put it within us. And as we do this as much of the life of God as is in the universe which we describe through the spirit of truth is given to us." A transcript is available HERE.

Endowment Lecture 4-Gifts Of The Spirit [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)Fourth in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "…we discussed the church and we tried to make it quite clear, that this was either 'a church,' or it was 'the church.' If it is simply 'a church,' I cannot see any reason for our existence. But if it is 'the church,' then it means that we have a unique, distinct position. The Protestant world as a whole as far as its theologians are concerned have no clear cut conception of the church. They have different varying definitions of it, but for us there should be no doubt. The Church of Jesus Christ is the body of Christ; that body of people who are brought together by the gift of his Spirit, and who share in the community of the Spirit by reason of their rebirth." A transcript is available HERE.

Endowment Lecture 5-Angelic Ministry [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)Fifth in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "You know this Church was conceived in the ministry of angels. It was not brought forth by human instrumentality except as Joseph Smith and those who were around him responded to the ministry of those that were from above. It was Moroni, it was Peter, James and John; it was John the Baptist who appeared to him. It was from these brethren that Joseph received his call and ordination to the Priesthood and under the continual guidance of those which were from above the Church moved in the discharge of its responsibility. Brethren,never let us forget that for the hope of the Kingdom does not rest below here with men on the earth outside of the Church, it rest with men that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." A transcript is available HERE.

Endowment Lecture 6-Spiritual Endowment [Audio Sermon], 1966 (mp3)Sixth in a series of six lectures given to the Melchisedec Priesthood at the RLDS Stone Church in Independence, Missouri, USA from October 3 to 13, 1966. Brother Oakman states, "Charity preventeth a multitude of sins. And if there was ever a day in the history of the world when men needed someone else to stand in their lives and go before them to warn them, to guide them and direct them; that is today. The adversary of souls has always been on the alert, but in the language of the Apocalypse he rages today in the hearts of men knowing he has a short time. I commend to you the spirit and the principle of sacrifice; the discovery of yourself in the act of ministry to other people. It is not that this church is an organization of people banded together to finish or find or realize some ideal. That's not our calling. We are members one of another. This is an organism, a living body, so definitively wrought together as to be inseparable. And we've very often lost sight of that in our ministrations abroad." A transcript is available HERE.

This week I found Arthur Oakman's Endowment series audio recordings at http://www.latterdaytruth.org. They were the lectures he gave to a group of Elders in 1966. I wish I had found them sooner. The power of Jesus Christ is with him as he speaks and the message blew me away. It's a message our church needed then and one we need even more today.

I'm sharing the links to each of the six lectures below. I hope and pray that these spread like wildfire through our many ranks. If you've listened to them before, you know how important they are. I encourage you to listen to them again. There are also transcripts available to download as PDF's on the page with each recording. Please help me share these lectures. Let's encourage our people to embrace the call and become what God has called us to be.